Iowa Hosts Western Illinois Tuesday at Duane Banks Field

April 9, 2012

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IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa baseball team hosts Western Illinois in a mid-week contest Tuesday night. The Hawkeyes face the Leathernecks at 6:35 p.m. at Duane Banks Field. Admission is $3 for adults, and free for students.

The Hawkeyes (13-16, 4-5) are 5-2 at home this season. Iowa opened its home slate with a 20-1 win over Grant View on March 21. Iowa then won 2-of-3 in its Big Ten opening series against Northwestern from March 23-25. Iowa dropped a 3-1 decision to Nebraska-Omaha at home March 28. Most recently, the Hawkeyes swept South Dakota State on April 3 (6-2) and April 4 (11-4).

Last weekend, the Hawkeyes lost 2-of-3 at Nebraska in their second Big Ten road series of the year. Iowa won at Nebraska on Friday night, 4-3, in the first ever Big Ten meeting between the two programs. The win marked the first ever for the Hawkeyes at Nebraska. Jarred Hippen earned his third victory of the season (3-3). The senior pitched seven and a third innings, allowing three runs on eight hits. He struck out six Huskers while allowing only one walk. Nick Brown closed out the final inning and two-thirds to seal the victory for Iowa. The senior earned his fifth save of the season while allowing no runs on zero hits. He struck out two Huskers. The Hawkeyes committed zero errors in the win. The Black and Gold are 8-1 this season when playing errorless baseball.

Iowa dropped the middle game of the three-game set, 9-4, on Saturday. The Hawkeyes let one slip away on Sunday. The visitors led 8-4 in the eighth inning before ultimately falling, 9-8. With Iowa leading 8-4, Nebraska plated one run off Brown in the eighth to close to within in 8-5. In the bottom of the ninth, the Huskers’ used five hits, including a game-tying triple to complete the comeback and ultimately escape with the one-run victory after an RBI single by Kale Kiser. The loss marked only the second for Iowa this season when leading after eight innings (12-2).

Western Illinois, led by third-year head coach Mike Villano, is 10-17-1. The Leathernecks are 4-8 in true road games this season. Iowa is 67-25-2 all-time against Western Illinois after taking 3-of-4 in 2011. The two teams split two games at Duane Banks Field. In addition, the Hawkeyes won a contest played at Western Illinois and a neutral site game played at Modern Woodmen Park in Davenport, Iowa.

Iowa continues action Saturday at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb. The Hawkeyes will play South Dakota State at 10:05 a.m. and host Creighton at 2:05 p.m.